World Badminton Championship 2017: Indian SSS Power Into Quarterfinals

From a contingent of 21, only three reached quarterfinals of World Badminton Championship 2017. Saina, Srikanth and Sindhu, the three current superstars of Indian Badminton did not disappoint. Sindhu reached her 4th consecutive quarterfinals equalling Prakash Padukone’s 4 QFs in first four World Badminton Championships, Srikanth reached his 1st Quarterfinals while Saina entered her 7th consecutive quarterfinals knocking out 2nd seed Korean. The day also saw Women Singles top seed Yamaguchi being knocked out.

World Badminton Championship: History of 5 Medal Winners from India
World Badminton Championship 2017 Indian Report: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Indian Men In World Badminton Championship Quarterfinals

Srikanth is the 5th Indian to reach Men’s Singles quarterfinals. Prakash Padukone is the only Indian male to proceed further with 4 consecutive quarterfinals in first four edition of World Championship. Parupalli Kashyap was the last to reach quarterfinals (2013). Anup Sridhar (2007) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) are the other two Indians to have reached the quarterfinals. Prakash Padukone reached quarterfinals consecutively in 1977, 1980, 1983 and 1985. He won Bronze in 1983. Srikanth on the other hand has reached third round in his last two attempts in 2015 and 2013.

Indian Results in Round 3
Won

8th seed Srikanth def 14th seed Anders (Denmark) 21-14 21-18 in 42 minutes
4th seed Sindhu def Cheung (Hong Kong) 19-21 23-21 21-17 in 1 hour 27 minutes
12th seed Saina Nehwal def 2nd seed Sung Ji Hyun (Korea) 21-19 21-15 in 47 minutes

Lost

Mixed Doubles 15th seed Sikki Reddy / Pranaav Chopra lost to 7th seed Indonesia pair 20-22 21-18 21-18 in 1 hour 3 minutes
13th seed Ajay Jayaram lost to defending champion Long Chen 21-11 21-10 in 41 minutes
15th seed Sai Praneeth lost to 6th seed Tien Chen (Taipei) 19-21 21-10 21-12 in 1 hour 1 minutes

Quarterfinal Schedule

Saina Nehwal vs 16th seed Kirsty Gilmour (Scotland)
4th seed Sindhu vs 5th seed Sun Yu (China)
8th seed Srikanth Kidambi vs top seed Son Wan Ho (Korea)

Head-to-Head

Srikanth and Son Wan are tied at 4-4 in career meet with Srikanth winning on the last two occasions they faced each other this year.
Sindhu trails Sun Yu 3-4 in career meet winning one and losing other in last two matches during 2016 season.
Saina has won all 4 matches against Kirsty Gilmour. They last played in 2014 against each other.